7th Day of Lent
Today’s reading takes us to Maundy Thursday evening and to the upper room. But before we get there, we hear Jesus foretelling His betrayal and crucifixion in two days; we also hear the Jews plotting against Jesus but deciding it shouldn’t be during the time of the Passover. But guess what? --It was just as Jesus had said; it was in two days at the time of the Passover! But the greater part of tonight’s reading was Jesus trying to teach His disciples humility and service. It was brought on when a dispute arose among the disciples of which of them was considered the greatest. But Jesus tells them: let the greatest among you become like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves. And then Jesus says: But I am among you as one who serves. And that is the key note not only of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but of Jesus’ entire earthly ministry--service! And service to whom? --Us poor, wretched sinners who by our sins earn and deserve only God’s wrath and punishment in hell. Jesus has come to serve us sinners, who as sinners turn away from Him and serve only self and sin. He has come to serve us by bringing us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, by reconciling us to God and gathering us into HIs holy family, the Church. And He would do that precisely by His holy and innocent suffering and death--that very suffering and death that He was now willingly entering into. On this first Maundy Thursday evening, Jesus demonstrates His service and gives a foreshadow of His greatest service to us as He washes the feet of HIs disciples, like a common slave would have done. By that, Jesus not only gives them an example of humble service and calls them to humbly serve others, but He is also calling on us to let Him humbly serve us. Peter told [Jesus], “You will never, ever, wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” The point is--unless we give up our thoughts that we are good enough for heaven or that we can earn God’s favor and salvation by our own works or efforts but instead let Jesus serve us by His holy life and innocent suffering and death on the cross, we will never be saved--we will have no part with Jesus, in whom alone is our salvation. This Lent, may we strive for humility--both in loving serving others/ placing others before us--and--in humbly receiving Jesus and His work for us and our salvation.
Jesus came and humbly served us. And this is something He wanted to do! And now with this first Maundy Thursday evening, Jesus is entering this part of His greatest humble service to us--His holy Passion/ suffering and death! Tonight we will spend a few moments with St. Luke as he relates to us events of that evening.
And when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. At first glance this looks like a simple introductory/ scene setting statement. But as we look at it a little more precisely, we will see it is full of meaning and significance. At first glance, the hour had come, sounds like it was simply the prescribed time to start the Passover meal. It definitely was the prescribed time to start the Passover, as the Lord had given instructions through Moses [Lv. 23.5]: On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. It was twilight! Time for the Passover to begin. But it was also the hour that Jesus had spoken about--the time when Jesus’ work moves to its completion. Earlier Jesus had said [Jn. 2.4]: My hour has not yet come. But now it had! This was the hour of His death, when God would lift up, or glorify, HIs Son. Earlier Jesus also prayed to HIs Father [Jn. 12.27]: Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” And now, on this Passover, this first Maundy Thursday the hour had come. This hour was prescribed by divine institution. It wasn’t by chance or fluke that the hour had come and Jesus would soon be lifted up on the cross to die for the sins of the world. It was all by God’s plan and on His timetable. Because, after all, earlier Jesus had said it wasn’t the hour but now on God’s schedule and at His time it was--remember what we read earlier: that the Jews who were plotting against Jesus said, “Not during the Festival, or else there might be a riot among the people.” But when was it that the hour had come? --Precisely during the Festival--God’s time, not their time. And that shows us what? Jesus was in control of everything and He was willingly beginning/ entering that hour/ the hour of HIs Passion/ the hour of His suffering and death.
And then we read Jesus sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Again, at first glance it looks like they are simply getting ready for the Passover; but look at that scene: Jesus is sitting/ reclining there with His disciples. What a beautiful scene of the truth that Jesus, our dear Lord, wants to sit in intimacy with His people. Not only is He with us now in a very wonderful and intimate way as we gather around Him here in church around His holy word and sacrament, but this scene also points us forward to heaven and eternal life where our Lord’s dear Christians will be soul and body eternally gathered around our holy Triune God in greatest joy and fulfillment. The glorious thing is now Jesus wants to be in close intimate fellowship with us as we are united with Him through faith and baptism and as He comes to us bodily in Holy Communion and we receive Him into us.
So let this scene that Jesus sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him be a great comfort to us now and point us forward to the eternal bliss of heaven!
St. Luke continues in our text: Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Notice again that Jesus points out His suffering. This was not just some premonition or “reading the tea leaves” that the religious leaders of the Jews were plotting against Him. This was the hour appointed and determined by God for Jesus to begin His final work for our salvation. And He knew it. And on top of that, Jesus knew He would suffer and suffer horribly--not just the physical agonies, as if that wasn’t bad enough, but He would suffer the wrath and forsakenness of God, the very pangs of hell on the cross. But what does Jesus say? What is the glimpse we get of His holy heart? --One of love. Look at what Jesus says: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Because this is the hour, Jesus knows that this Passover that He eats with His disciples is the beginning of the events that will lead to that suffering and death on the cross. Eating this Passover is the first of the events that will set in motion humankind’s great deliverance from sin--a deliverance that brings Jesus to the cross. And Jesus enters this Passover, this beginning event, with fervent desire! A desire for us and our salvation! What we see is that as the hour of suffering and death came nearer to Jesus, all the more did He long for it to come so that the great work for our salvation would be done and the salvation of the world brought about. That’s His heart of love for us sinners! That’s His heart of love that He still has for us. Let us at all times take great comfort in Jesus’ love for us; it is always there fervently burning toward us--even when and especially when we are in trial and hardship and the devil wants us to think that God has forgotten us or is mean to us. In those times let us run to the upper room that first Maundy Thursday and hear Jesus say: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
The fact that Jesus would willingly lay down His life according to His timetable, at the Passover, is significant. It is significant because it points out the fact that the Passover foreshadowed and was a picture of that greater Passover--Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross and His rescue of all people. The Passover itself was a yearly reminder for the Jews of their ancestors’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt. As they celebrated it, they placed themselves in their ancestors’ shoes and relived that deliverance as they ate that Passover meal. At the center of that celebration was the Passover lamb that was killed--and in Egypt its blood smeared over the doorposts of the house to keep the angel of death from killing the first-born in the house. And here we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover, that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb for all people: the Passover pointed to the Lord rescuing His people from slavery in Egypt; and now at this final Passover, Jesus the true Passover Lamb willingly gave Himself up to be killed on the cross to rescue all people from the slavery to sin, death, and devil; Jesus, the true Passover lamb, rescued us and brought us out of the Egypt of hell; with the blood of Jesus smeared by faith on the doorposts of our heart, we are rescued from eternal death in hell. With all that in mind, that’s why Jesus said: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” And as He ate the Passover that first Maundy Thursday, it pointed Jesus forward to the work He was about to do and the blessings it would bring. It certainly prepared Him for His own suffering and death with that burning desire to bring us salvation.
And there’s also certainly one more reason why Jesus had this burning desire to eat this Passover with the disciples--and it is tied in with the others: it was in this Passover that Jesus would institute and give to His Church for all ages the holy sacrament of His Body and Blood. In the holy Sacrament Jesus would give to His dear Christians until the end of the world His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life; He would come and unite with them as they receive Him in their mouths. By Jesus’ suffering and death, all the Jewish Passovers--including this one--had served their purpose and are really at an end. So here at the Last Supper Jesus institutes the Holy Sacrament of His Body of HIs Body and Blood to be used until the end of the world when we are brought soul and body to heaven to be eternally with all the saints, the holy angels and the holy Triune God Himself beholding Him in all His divine glory. Like the first Passover would sustain the Israelites as they left Egypt, so Jesus sustains us now during our earthly lives on the way to heaven by His Sacrament--His holy body and blood. That’s why Jesus then says in our text: For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. The OT sacrament of the Passover has an end; it has its ultimate meaning in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
And then our text continues: And [Jesus] took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Here Jesus moves forward from His suffering to His glorification/ to His resurrection. He talks about the fruit of the vine; that’s wine that was used at the Passover. Until Jesus’ saving work was finished, He said He would not drink the wine. Remember before Jesus died on the cross He had a sip of wine? St. John records [19.30]:So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. There on the cross Jesus’ saving work was done! And He finally took that cheap, sour wine showing His work was done. When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter, there it was clear: the kingdom of God [had come]. When Jesus ate and drank with His disciples after His resurrection [Ac. 10.41], He showed the reality of His victory over death. The kingdom of God has come and now we are pointed to the full fruit and blessing of Jesus’ work in heaven where His dear Christians will be with HIm eternally in that great heavenly feast. Jesus truly desired to enter the Passion--in love of us and certain of His victory for us. INJ